It's been a while

So ... I haven't been doing any climbing (other than the gym) since my last posting. So I really haven't had much to blog about. I'm just dropping in to say I haven't dropped off the face of the earth.

So, just a brief update about what I've been up to lately. Work is taking up a lot of time, but no one wants to hear about that. In the free time I have, I've been doing lots of cooking and lots of dancing. And of course, I don't have any pictures of that, but I've found some really cool youtube videos of other people dancing for inspiration. Most of my dancing time lately has been tango. I've decided this is my favorite and while I will continue learning and dancing blues, I think I want to dedicate most of my lesson time/money to tango so I can do this someday:

But blues will always have a place in my heart. Because, serious, who doesn't think this is awesome:

I may not be able to do that, but Jeremy and I had a great time at Emerald City Blues festival and will surely go next year. And we're really looking to San Diego Fusion Exchange this January!!

As for the cooking, it's been so cold outside, I've mostly been making soup!!

On the menu lately has been:

1) Split Pea soup & corn bread paired with some Cab Sav

2) Homemade tomato soup (I found the most delicious recipe and modified it a bit -- seriously delicious) with some gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches paired with some really great Pinot Noir (Cab Sav might have been a better choice, but we really lime Pinot)

3) Home made chili served with a green salad and corn bread paired with Zinfandel.

I also did some baking for Thanksgiving -- I made 2 pumpkin and 2 apple pies. We kept one of the apples for ourselves and took the other 3 to Jeremy's mom's place for Thanksgiving. And then the next day, we finished off the rest of a left-over pumpkin and I decided to make some frozen pies (use ice cream instead of condensed milk and serve frozen) for just us.

My waistline may not be moving in the direction I'd like, but we've been enjoying some tasty warming winter food since it's too cold (for me) to climb.

We're really looking to going to San Diego for a couple weeks to visit my family, do some climbing in Joshua Tree, and perhaps some dancing down there too. And I'm thinking I'll pitch in and make Christmas dinner. I'll make use of my parents grill (since we don't have one) to make some Cedar Planked salmon (and whatever sides I come up with). :)

Let me know if you want any recipes. And stay tuned for climbing pictures from Joshua Tree! :)